“No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark,” writes Warsan Shire, in “Home,” a poem about refugees.
Last week, 60-plus area residents heard Shire’s words as they gathered to learn about a local group’s plan to bring a refugee family to Flin Flon in 2016.
Northern Refugee Sponsorship Committee chairwoman Laura Sparling started the meeting with a reading of the poem, paired with a slideshow of images reflecting the plight of refugees around the world.
Sparling introduced the audience to committee members Crystal Kolt, Katy Anderson, Alex Beasse, Greg East, Jan Modler and Judy Schmidt.
She explained that the Mennonite Cornerstone Community Church is a key partner, with Sandra Schroeder, church treasurer, acting as liaison between the church and the committee.
Joining the Thursday, Nov. 26 meeting via videoconference was Arisnel Mesidor, migration and resettlement program coordinator with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Manitoba.
Mesidor explained that the organization would serve as the sponsorship holder for the Flin Flon initiative, reducing paperwork and providing logistical support for the local committee.
MCC Manitoba works with local committees to select a family or families, and provides a checklist of items that need to be in place by the time a refugee family arrives, including an appropriate, furnished residence.
As for Flin Flon area residents, “Your commitment is to provide funds and volunteers,” Mesidor said.
The local sponsorship committee wants to bring one or two families of refugees to the area. While much of the international focus is on Syrian war refugees, the committee has no preference on where the refugees come from.
In an earlier interview, Sparling said the cost of settling a family of six is about $32,500. The federal government pays one third of this fee, so the Northern Refugee Sponsorship Committee needs to raise about $21,700 per family.
The amount of funding needed varies depending on the number of people in a family, Mesidor explained, and in-kind donations count toward the settlement fee.
“We are very fortunate that so many people have volunteered to donate household items because that will significantly reduce our start-up costs,” Sparling said in a follow-up interview. “What we need now are more financial donations to help cover rent and food costs over the year…we’re estimating it will be close to $15,000 per family.”
Sparling said the committee has raised about $9,000 so far, with about $10,000 more in commitments, and their goal is to garner $30,000 in cash donations to bring in two families.
Mesidor added that the settlement funds support the refugee family for one year while they integrate into a Canadian community.
Part of the role of the host community is to “make sure that they are successfully settled so they can become self-sufficient after one year,” Mesidor explained.
He added that if this is not possible, the family is able to access social assistance programs like any other Canadian, as each refugee attains permanent resident status upon being accepted into the country.
In order to facilitate the sponsorship, committee members invited the public to get involved in a number of ways, from making donations, to committing to volunteer as an English tutor or driver, or just saying hello at the grocery store.
“Our vision is not to be invisible partners,” Sparling said, adding that she hoped residents would build friendships with the incoming family and make them feel welcome.
Mesidor addressed concerns regarding safety, particularly in regards to Syrian refugees.
He said that in his opinion, Canada has a strong screening process in which a file is set aside if it raises doubts.
“We can trust the Canadian government to do due diligence on this,” Mesidor said.
